Monday, April 30, 2012

Get Off the Couch! Let's get that laundry done!

Do any of you get sucked into blogging? I really try to keep balance and not spend too much of my day blogging. I got a laptop for Christmas. It's easier to forget how long I've been on the computer now that I'm sitting comfortably on the couch instead of on a hard kitchen chair.

Meanwhile the laundry is piling up. I am very good about getting it all washed and dried, it's the folding and putting away that gets left undone.

Here's my system for the washing:

Saturday - the kids sort their laundry, and I sort mine and my husbands.

I bought this little cart at Walmart for around $13. It's the best purchase I've ever made. The kids can sort their own laundry, and it fits into the small space I have in the laundry room. I keep a laundry basket on the floor for towels.

{you know we must be friends now, if I'm showing you my laundry room}

I also keep this basket on the dryer for whites. There's also a shoe box full of socks without matches. And don't ask me how I washed a sponge brush, but I did and have yet to put it away.

Not the prettiest laundry room {one of these days I'll get it decorated}, but it's functional.

Mondays: wash towels {usually two loads}

Tuesdays: wash whites {one load}

Wednesdays: wash light colors {two loads}

Thursdays: wash darks {1-2 loads}

Fridays: wash jeans {1-2 loads}

A lot of times I wash jeans on Thursdays just so I'm done early for the week.

I love that everything is sorted and I can just throw in a load first thing in the morning.

Now comes my problem.

It is common to see at least two {usually more} baskets of laundry in the living room waiting to be folded.

It's been especially bad lately since I've been spending so much time finishing up our basement. Now that the carpet is installed and there are only a few minor things left to do down there, I decided Enough is Enough! No more laundry sitting around for days waiting to be folded.

So I decided to find out how long it really took to fold a basket of laundry.

I started with the hardest to fold at our house - the kids cloths {see above}. Most of the girls clothes are light in color and are washed all at the same time.

I got out my timer {I know, kinda nerdy} and got to work.

The first basket I folded in under 4 minutes! {there was more adult clothing so it went super fast} The second basket I folded in 6 minutes.

I always set aside the socks until the end so it took another 2 minutes to match them up.

Then to put everything away it took just under 6 minutes.

This was my total time {17 min 49 sec} for TWO baskets from the time I started folding to the time I put the empty baskets back in the laundry room. So I figure even the hardest baskets to fold should take less than 10 minutes.

I also timed myself folding a basket of towels. Get ready for this.... The time it took me to fold and put away a basket of towels was 4 minutes 31 seconds. I imagine jeans would be just as fast.

Why in the world do I let them sit and sit? It really doesn't take that long to fold them and put them away.

My goal is to get each days laundry folded THAT day. I've done really well for the last week. It's so much easier when there's not as much to fold at one time too.

So was this motivating? What are your tips to getting your laundry done? Do you involve your kids? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

27 comments
:

This is a great post! (and you are cracking me up by the way because I let my clean laundry sit, too!) I will admit that laundry is my WORST chore! When I worked as a costumer in thratre I did like 8-10 loads a DAY...so at this point in my life it is SO easy to let it pile up!

I really enjoyed this post, Rachel. I have a similar laundry cart and quite honestly don't use it that effectively. I think once my daughter is a little older it will prove to be a lot more helpful. :) Megan

Almost all of my clothes I hang up, so barely any folding for me. And I mostly air dry, too. One thing my mom has done for a few years now is to put the wet clothes on the hangers as they come out of the wash, and then hang those up to dry in the basement. So it saves time later when you only need to carry the clothes to the respective closet! The shelves I'm building for our laundry area will have a pole so I can do it this way too, can't wait for them to be completed!! When I do match up socks then I put on a little music and the task doesn't seem so daunting that way.

Folding and putting away the laundry is the worst part for me! I have two baskets sitting in my laundry room right now waiting to be folded! If the kids are with my husband or are playing together sometimes I will call up my mom or a girlfriend and talk on the phone while I'm folding laundry. That always makes it go by so much faster for me.

I love this post, I sometimes can get sucked into the blogging world that I loose track of time. And end up staying up pretty late. I like the idea of setting a timer and today after I read your post I set my kitchen timer to an hour. Gave my self an hour to pick up and organize the toys, clean the kitchen wash and put dishes away, mop and sweep the whole house. Happy to report that in that one hour I was able to accomplish all of the above and still had 8 minutes to spare. I hate putting away laundry specially the socks.

Great post! I try to do my link paties in the morning while I work out. I only walk at 3.5 mph so this is double to multi task. After I work out I through a load of laundry in and switch in the dryer during naptime after lunch. I cant do it earlier because I run a home daycare and don't leave children unattended. When its your own kids its different right ;) Anyhoo, after the daycare kids leave for the day I get it fold it and hopefully get it put away. Alot of the time it will sit in bedroom folded until I get a moment to put away. Thats my drill!

I wash in cold, so most of our loads stay categorized by the person. I have a 6 year old and an almost 5 year old. See this post for how my kiddos help a lot with the laundry.http://hurleythurston.blogspot.com/2012/02/beginning-of-official-chore-chart.html

Another thing that helps is that hubby does his laundry and I do mine. I dump my laundry on my bed, sort by clothing type and then force myself to put it away before bedtime. When they are sorted by item type, it is easy to throw the panties, bras, and socks into their drawer. Half the battle there!!

Great ideas! This post just made be aware that I've been sitting here for three hours...ugh yikes. Time to get up and get some stuff done! Definitely going to try the timmer! Thanks!xo Jess{www.CraftyNonsenseNoted.com}

I'm reading this and meanwhile the washer is churning out a load for me to hang...yes, hang. It gets hot early here in Central Texas. When I feel overwhelmed with laundry, I get the kids in on it. They can put hangers on tee shirts, match socks up, etc. It's not that it takes that long, it's just not as fun as blogging!

Great post! How did you KNOW I was just sitting here blogging and the laundry was piling up, hmmmm??? Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday this week. I can’t wait to see what you link up next week. Have a great day.

I always fold my laundry as I pull it out of the dryer so it ends up in the basket already folded. Most mornings I do this while I microwave my oatmeal. It takes me about 2 minutes. Then I put away that basket of clothes while the oatmeal cools down enough to eat, lol. I think it must be 4 minutes, tops. I would go crazy if there were baskets of clothes to look at.

Laundry is the bane of my existence!! I feel like it's all I ever do! I always have more to do or more to be folded. Like you washing and drying it isn't the problem it the folding and putting it away. I LOVE,LOVE the idea of timing your self. I think I need to try that today. Thanks for the inspiration!

After cleaning the shower, I hate doing laundry! It's just Mr. B and me so you wouldn't think it wouldn't be that big of deal! Ugh! I work full time so all laundry gets done on the weekends. I used to let the socks sit almost all week before I would match them up and put them away. Now I force myself to get everything put away and just be done with it...until next weekend (sigh). If I ever win Lotto I will pay someone to clean the shower and do the laundry! Thank you for sharing this great post at You're Gonna Love It Tuesday!

I hate doing laundry too! I think its great you are really organized with it. I do think folding it is the worst part. I would let it sit for days if it wasn't for my husband who wants to fold it right away. I never realized it took so fast, I feel like it takes forever. We usually do it while watching TV to make it go faster. Thanks for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday!

This is a great post. I enjoy doing laundry now since it is only for the two of us. When my girls were growing up it was more of a chore and there were 5 people to do laundry for. I do the towels and sheets during the week and on Friday when I am off work I launder all our clothing. I can't stand to do laundry on the weekend. I fold each load right away. That way there are no wrinkles.

This is great! I HATE folding and putting away laundry, but I should get out my timer and see how quickly I can just get the dang job done! ;) I need to get into a better routine. Thanks for sharing what works for you! found you on TT&J linky party, yay! :)

Search Adventures of a DIY Mom

Adventures of a DIY Mom is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

The contents of this blog, including text, original pictures and ideas are the sole property of the author.

Please do not republish an entire post.

If you wish to use an image, please link back to this blog and give credit to Adventures of a DIY Mom. I would love to know about it. Send me an e-mail, or leave a comment.